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The Early Word: Obama on Iraq, Afghanistan

By Michael Falcone July 14, 2008 8:33 amJuly 14, 2008 8:33 am

Senator Barack Obama wants the United States to increase troop levels in Afghanistan by about 10,000 and would support a phased redeployment of troops In Iraq within 16 months of taking office leaving a residual force to carry out “limited missions,” he writes in an Op-Ed article in The New York Times.

In the article, Mr. Obama also notes: “In carrying out this strategy, we would inevitably need to make tactical adjustments. As I have often said, I would consult with commanders on the ground and the Iraqi government to ensure that our troops were redeployed safely, and our interests protected.”

The Times’s Jeff Zeleny points out that Mr. Obama is sharpening his policy toward Iraq and Afghanistan as he prepares to visit both countries later this summer.

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign is not pleased about a New Yorker Magazine cover that depicts the presumptive Demcoratic nominee wearing a turban. The current edition of the magazine also features a lengthy piece by Ryan Lizza about Mr. Obama’s political rise in Illinois.

The Washington Posts’s Shailagh Murray takes a closer look at Mr. Obama’s inner circle – “the friends he had before he became a senator and entertained thoughts of the presidency, and who he would bring with him in a sense if he ends up in the White House.”

On Sunday, Mr. Obama spoke to the National Council of La Raza’s annual convention in San Diego and Mr. McCain addresses the group today. The Washington Post’s Perry Bacon Jr. and Juliet Eilperin write that the two candidates “face very different tasks”: “Obama is seeking to solidify his standing among a group that has historically leaned Democratic, whereas McCain is working to convince Latinos that he deserves their support, based on his stance on immigration and experience as a border-state lawmaker.”

In his remarks, Mr. McCain, who recently visited Colombia and Mexico, plans to tweak Mr. Obama for not visiting more Latin American countries:

“And while it is surely not my intention to become my opponent’s scheduler, I hope Senator Obama soon visits some of the other countries of the Americas for the first time. Were he to do so, I think he, too, would see that stronger economic bonds with our neighbors and the closer friendships they encourage, are a great benefit in many ways to our country.”

Newsweek’s Ron Moreau reports on Senator McCain’s support in Vietnam, the country where he was held as a prisoner of war while serving as a naval aviator during the war.

The Times’s Mark Leibovich profiles Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice presidential candidate and independent senator from Connecticut, who is now one of Mr. McCain’s closest confidants. Mr. Leibovich writes:

Clearly, Mr. Lieberman’s already precarious marriage with the Democrats has reached a new level of discord and could be approaching divorce, if not necessarily a remarriage into the Republican Party. The strain has been rooted largely in Mr. Lieberman’s steadfast support for the Bush administration’s engagement in Iraq and his hawkish views on Iran. He has not ruled out switching parties but has stopped short of saying he has moved so far from the Democratic Party — or, in his view, the other way around — that he is at a point of no return.

And although he has endorsed Senator McCain, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger flexed some bi-partisan muscle on Sunday, suggesting in an interview on the ABC News program “This Week,” that he would be willing to serve as an energy and environment czar in an Obama administration. “I’m always ready to help in any way I can,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said.

Convention Outlook: The Times’s Leslie Wayne shines a spotlight on the lobbyist, Steve Farber, who is playing a central role in raising money to finance the Democratic National Convention: “Mr. Farber’s vast contact list could prove crucial in raising the millions of dollars needed by the Denver host committee to showcase Senator Barack Obama and the Democratic Party in August in Denver. But Mr. Farber’s activities are a public display of how corporate connections fuel politics — exactly the type of special influence that Mr. Obama had pledged to expunge from politics when he said he would not accept donations from lobbyists.”

Veepstakes: Former Massachusetts governor and erstwhile Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be on hand today for the opening of Mr. McCain’s campaign office in Farmington Hills, Mich., a Detroit suburb. Mr. Romney, said to be on the short list for Mr. McCain’s running mate, has strong ties to the important battleground state where his father, George Romney, served as governor.

Obama is nuts. Now he is an expert on the middle east wars, never having any experience in the military or foreign experience whatsoever. He thinks he’s the second coming. The American people who are logical and have wisdom have caught on to his changing gears to suit what popular with the crowd he is speaking to or if something changes and the wind blows north instead of south, then he is blowing north. He’s pathetic. The generals need to run these wars. That’s why Hitler was defeated; he thought he was smarter than his generals.

Love the pre-emptive disclaimers by the Obamabots about Obama’s ever shifting stances on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Obamabots know full well that they are reversals of his previous positions, which is why they are saying they are not even before anyone calls Obama on his latest flops. The best is Obama’s effort to glom onto the success of the surge strategy when he did everything in his power to thwart it from being enacted in the first place. People are only fooled by the smoke and mirrors of the Obama campaign if they are either:

Earlier when I was not sure of getting the nomination-I took an extreme stand.Now that I have the ‘almost’ nomination-I have to ‘change’ the stand-Once I am in the White House,obviously I will change again based on the ground realities then.That’s after all how ‘Change’ works.I wonder why people call it “flip flopping” -BHO

Love the pre-emptive disclaimers by the Obamabots about Obama’s ever shifting stances on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Posted by David NYC
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This is so ignorant of you. Obama did not get us into this mess.

It is Bush’s responsibility to hand the next president a manageable situation. Instead, he is leaving behind $9-$13 trillion deficit and two wars. Iran and Russia is p—ed with us, now turning off the oil supply to Czech Republic (10 mil people) because the US is pressuring that little country into signing some stupid anti-Iran missile agreement.

And, you are accusing Obama supporters of being stupid? How many more people do you want to have killed? And, for what? How many more countries do you want to insult?

If McCain is elected, you’d better believe there may be another war. Is this what you really wish for?

Having just read Obama’s Op-Ed, I can see where this is going. Does he honestly think we can send in 2 brigades and be done with it? We’ll have 150,000 on the ground there in no time! This will never end. How about withdrawing from Iraq AND Afghanistan and letting the locals slaughter each other as they’ve been doing so efficiently for the last 10,000 years?

10000 troops in Afghanistan? Now Obama is pretending to be a military strategist? My guess is he is just pulling a magic number out of his magic hat. Perhaps prior to making strategic decisions, he should consult with the CENTCOM commander responsible for Afghanistan and Iraq? I guess he can’t really do that since Obama and company claims he “Betrayed Us”.

Where have I heard (read Kennedy, LBJ, etc) plans about deploying large numbers of troops, for short periods of time, and then withdrawing them when the situation is stabilized? We saw how successful numbers and equipment (minus any ideas on how to provide legitimate local govt) was in SE Asia. I hate Vietnam analogies, but I couldn’t pass this one up.
To. No. 6, Nate, if your stepson was fighting those directly responsible for 9/11, he’d be in Saudi Arabia.

I am so glad people are waking up and seeing the evil behind Obama.. Ignorance is dangerous.. And Obama doesnt have a clue, what can you expect hes only been around federal government for 18 months before he started this whole hollywood show.. Well the curtain is closing now and many are looking to Hillary to save the party, 8 super delegates have switched in the past week back to Hillary and they said more are coming, we just might see HIllary as the nominee in August!!

President Obama drew criticism on Thursday when he said, “we don’t have a strategy yet,” for military action against ISIS in Syria. Lawmakers will weigh in on Mr. Obama’s comments on the Sunday shows.Read more…